The handling, storing and shipping of large, heavy, vertically-oriented panels, such as concrete wall panels, can be hazardous and expensive due to the numerous times in which a panel must be lifted and moved. Heavy lifting equipment, such as cranes, are normally required to lift and move panels, not only within the in-factory panel manufacturing and storage areas, but also to lift the panels onto trailers for transporting the panels by tractor/trailer to a construction job site where the panels are to be installed.
Reducing the number of times a panel is handled reduces the associated cost, not only in terms of decreasing the number of times that lifting equipment is mobilized to lift a panel, but also because the hazards to the panel (and the handlers) that impacts and stresses from the lifting and moving process can impose on the panel. Reducing the instances in which such impacts and stresses are imposed can reduce damage to the panel and also reduce the exposure of handlers to safety risks associated with damaged panels. In this regard, precast concrete wall panels typically have reinforcing steel bars or rods that extend only in the vertical direction when the panel is oriented vertically, thus preventing the panel from being stored and shipped flat due to the risk of breakage to the panel if impacts and/or stresses are imposed to the unreinforced regions of the panels and/or in a direction that the reinforcing bars cannot readily counteract.
Conventional trailers employed in the transportation of large, heavy, vertically-oriented panels are themselves large, mechanically complicated and expensive. Conventional tractor/trailer assemblies for the transportation of concrete panels are generally designed to transport the panels in a vertically upright position. In addition, panels of a large height (for example, up to 12 feet tall or more) require transporting, and governmental regulations limit the height to which transported material can extend above the roadway when hauled by a vehicle.
Conventional trailers are limited in their ability to transport or store panels of exceptionally large sizes. Specifically, conventional trailers are limited to panels of maximum lengths due to a combination of factors, including the presence of rear wheel axles and the inability of the trailer to expand. Rear wheel axles extending across the entire width of current trailers restrict maximum panel lengths, as panels generally are unable to extend past rear wheel axles. Trailers of fixed lengths are similarly unable to transport or store panels exceeding the fixed length of the trailer.
The present combination trailer and storage rack assembly overcomes at least some of the foregoing shortcomings associated with conventional techniques for handling, storing and transporting large, heavy, vertically-oriented panels, particularly concrete wall panels. The present trailer rack assembly represents a comprehensive material handling solution that improves in-factory handling, storage and inventory operations, and also improves over-the-road transportation and delivery of large, heavy, vertically-oriented panels to a construction jobsite.